The 15th annual Documentary Film Series at ֭Ƶ will begin at 2 p.m. April 7 with Shlomi Eldar’s “Precious Life.”
All screenings in the series are free to the public and will be held in the Moot Court Room in Sarkeys Law Center at N.W. 23rd Street and Kentucky Avenue. It is sponsored by the Thatcher Hoffman Smith Endowment Fund.
The series title, “3 Measures of Time,” comes from the title of a poem by National Book Award winning poet Terrance Hayes, who will give a reading at ֭Ƶ April 3.
In “Precious Life,” an Israeli journalist confronts the personal ramifications of life in Gaza in a documentary about courage and the fight for the life of a child. When a four-month-old Palestinian boy needs a bone marrow transplant to live—a procedure that can only be performed
in an Israeli hospital—his mother finds herself caught between the desire to protect her son and harsh criticism from her community. An Israeli pediatrician finds himself in a comparable dilemma.
“Precious Life” explores the challenges and prejudices that must be overcome when people of conflicting nations attempt to put aside their differences for a greater cause. It was the winner of the best documentary award from the Israeli Film Academy in 2010 and was shown at numerous prestigious film festivals all over the world.
The Hollywood Reporter said the film “has as much tension as a good thriller and more honest emotion than most Hollywood tear-jerkers. And it’s suffused with moral intelligence.” Other dates and films in the series will be April 21 with Peter Richardson’s “How to Die in Oregon” and April 28 with Robert H. Lieberman’s “They Call It Myanmar: Lifting the Curtain.”